Earlier today, Zeemote announced plans to distribute its Zeemote JS1 Bluetooth controller with Nokia's N-Gage handsets.

It's a big deal for the company, not least because the controllers will be bundled with the handsets, rather than using the indirect voucher scheme being used in Holland by Sony Ericsson.

I talked to Zeemote's Jim Adams to get the lowdown on the deal, and what it means for the company.

"It's all about an application called Zeekey, which will be available first by download, and then embedded in selected Nokia handsets," he says. "It's launching in Germany first. So it's Zeekey with the Zeemote bundled together with the N-Gage phone."

Although flagged as an N-Gage deal, Zeekey is actually more than that. Once downloaded, the application will enable the Zeemote to control everything on the phone, including mapping, music players, and even the camera.

Meanwhile, the fact that it's a general application means the Zeemote will now work with all N-Gage games without any changes needed to their actual code.

"We can claim 100 per cent game compatibility from the start," says Adams. "Also, one thing we're doing is letting users customise the profiles, so if different games or applications call for different types of button mapping, you can pull down an options menu and change that."

How so? "You might have your FIFA profile, or your Tetris profile," he says. "You as a user can very simply assign the buttons of your Zeemote, and of course to other applications outside N-Gage, like mapping or the camera."

Adams also says that Zeekey opens the way for Nokia's N-Gage handsets to be used in other ways, tying in with the AV cables that are increasingly shipping with them.

"With AV out, Zeemote will completely control the handset, which can be plugged into your TV," he says. "That's where the opportunity comes in some emerging markets in the world, where you can sit back and control everything on your handset, watching it on the TV."

So it's just Germany then? "It's exclusively for Germany first, but there will be other territories where we anticipate it rolling out additionally," he says.

Adams says that Zeemote is also focusing on signing up the remaining developers and publishers who haven't so far committed to support the JS1 – including Capcom, Konami and THQ Wireless.

"We're doing well though," he says. "EA and Gameloft are solidly behind it for example. We anticipate all of their top properties being made Zeemote-ready."